I've got patchbays setup for the mixers in our rehearsal rooms. I'm trying to make them as idiot proof as possible.

I will make dedicated rack panels for mic and line ins on them eventually but there's only so much I can do at once, so I'm looking for a quick, temporary fix in the meantime with what I have.

The PBs I have to hand are all 24ch ones and I only need 10 of those channels for the lines to the desks (6 mic ins, 10 line ins) Making 14 (well, 28) of the PB sockets redundant.

So as not to confuse anyone, I'd like to block up the redundant sockets, but do you think I can find such a thing? I've searched "dummy jack plug" "jack blanking plug" "Plastic Jack Blank" "f'ing 1'4" jack blocker upper!" ... But nothing :P

Only thing I've found are cheap foam earplugs. Yeah they'd do the job, but they're rather colourful and not quite as professional-looking as I'd like.

Surely there's something out there? I really struggle to get the right term for what I'm looking for. Took me forever to find some "plastic packing straps"... When I finally realised it was better called "pallet strapping", the world was my oyster! :D

Pop along to your local DIY store or browse their web site, armed with the height of your patch bays. Buy some white, brown, black plastic flat strips (as close to the height of the p/bay) and some Velcro, and stick them over the unwanted holes. Bingo! Hidden. When you need all or some of them, cut the plastic down to expose the extra holes you need and do the same.

In addition to the above links (and that eBay seller is great!) I bought a new multimeter last week, and its pair of banana plug probe leads came (as usual) with little plastic end caps that I immediately inserted into a pair of 1/4-inch jack sockets for dust protection :cool:

You can see an example of the items I mean bottom centre in this photo:

Just a quick update to this handy thread, which I searched out when I needed some more dustcaps for my own use.

Jackcaps are still going strong, and now have a gig-ready version of the 1/4-inch jack cap without the taper, for an even firmer fit that should survive being shaken about and turned upside down on the road.

There's also an XLR version now available, and they are still at bargain prices (50 of the jack type for just £10.99):